Golden State Tannery...never Again!!!!!!

Interests:My daughters tell me I'm like Dr. Doolittle because I talk to the animals...too bad they don't always like what I have to say.

Posted 30 July 2012 - 08:51 AM

About five years ago I used GST for a load of skins for the first time. They did a good job, the price wasn't terrible and the turn around time was pretty good. If you had asked me then about GST, I would've recommended them. Fast forward to this year.

I sent twelve skins in to get tanned by GST a few months back. I sent them five bobcat skins, three gray fox and four coyotes. My family wants some cool hats made, and I finally had enough. All were case skinned by me. Here is the state of the skins I sent:

Bobcat: two were stretched, fleshed, salted and dried
three were skinned and frozen

Foxes: All three were stretched, fleshed, salted and dried

Coyotes: one was stretched, fleshed, salted and dried. The rest were skinned and frozen.

I sent the load in in March. After not hearing from them, I called them in mid June. They said they were to be shipped the following week. By mid July, still no skins. I called again, and again they said shipping next week. This went on a third time until I finally received my skins.

The quality of the skins compared to the first bunch I sent five years ago was low. Some of the furs hadn't been brushed out and some were just bad. I counted the skins and realized I was one short. The invoice stated that one of the skins had been rejected. A call back and they stated that during the prep, the hair began to slip and they rejected it for tanning. I asked them to send me the rejected fur and they said they would. I still don't have it.

The following week I get a call from GST telling me that one of the bobcat skins they sent me wasn't mine. Of the five, I pawed one out and cut the skin short on the others. They asked me to check the pawed skin. Sure enough, the bullet hole is in the wrong place, and upon careful inspection, I noticed tons of meat left in the feet, where I had carved them down to the toes. Not my skin. When I asked where mine was, he said he'd look and call me back later that day. That was last week.

I called this morning inquiring about my skin. They have not found it, they don't know where it is, and if they don't find it, they'll get me another one. Yeah, that ain't going to work. When I send my stuff in, I want my stuff back. They said they would keep looking and get back to me. I'm not holding my breath.

Lastly, is the price. Each skin, even the one I don't have averaged out to about $45 a skin for tanning. Way too much for the quality and level of service.

If you have skins to tan, I'd look for someplace else to get them done.

Just realized,
After talking to my son last night, Golden state taxidermy (John Hataldo)
is the one that mounted my deer.
It took forever, even though I payed in advance.
I called him a hundred times, without an answer.
I found out that he had family in Italy that was sick, and he went there
for an extended time.
I can understand, Family comes first.
Anyway, when I did talk to him, he said that he was almost done with it.
I got surprised by my son on the day I got married, he picked up my mount
and brought it over.
The work was very good, just that it took forever.
My son has had a few deer done by him, with very good quality, but
he said he found a much faster guy that did good work, so he uses him now.
Tom